


so just dance, dance, dance, come on

by thecourageofstars



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Pitch Perfect AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 12:45:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13364988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecourageofstars/pseuds/thecourageofstars
Summary: Riley Blue’s first week at Angelica Turing University goes something like this.(or, a Bluski pitch perfect au)





	so just dance, dance, dance, come on

Upon sliding out of her Uber in front of the Turing International House and squinting in the California sunlight, a cute boy who looks too tall and broad for the backseat of his parent’s car catches her eye and starts to serenade her, complete with an air guitar solo-

( _“HEYYY YEAH. I SAID HEY. WHAT’S GOING ON?”_ )

-until the car lurches forward and he falls against the seat.

Riley smiles almost involuntarily.

.

Sun Bak is oddly intimidating despite her slight stature. Regardless, she nods her head respectfully when Riley asks her not to touch her music equipment, so there’s that. Roommate number two also agrees easily, radiating guilelessness and innocence like a halo over her dark curls. Yet for their differences, Sun and Kala share a no-nonsense discipline that leaves Riley feeling off kilter.

“I know it’s still early, but do you know what your major will be?” Kala asks brightly sitting on her freshly made bed. Everything about her is bright. From her cheerful yellow pants to her floral comforter. She’s even hung a rug embroidered with an elephant-man on the wall.

“Music Theory. What about you two?”

“Economics and business,” says Sun, leaning against the bed frame with the sort of confidence that only comes after years of practice.

“Biochemistry,” says Kala.

“Oh.”

“So,” Kala begins, excited, “I heard there was a student activity fair today. Shall we check it out?”

They’d split up pretty quickly, Kala making a beeline for the school bhangra team and Sun drifting over to a booth for a kickboxing club.  

Walking through the commotion of bright colors and laughing students, Riley feels ghostly. She’s caught adrift, stuck in the lapse. Part of her is in the late afternoon sunshine at a silly college activity fair, and the other half is dead, under a snowdrift in Iceland. Automatically, she reaches for an anchor: she spots Kala being chatted up by a good looking Indian boy and Sun thoughtfully listening to another club’s pitch.  Going away to America for a while, getting away from Iceland had been her father’s idea. After Mangus and Luna (the mere thought of them sent a scorching ache through her heart, making it feel like it was atrophying) the idea of going into a strange land was bizarre. But now that she's here, bathed in the summer California sun, she was glad her father insisted.

“Would you like to hear more about the Turing Trebles?

Riley blinks and turns.

The girl on the other side of the table has long, multi-colored braids piled artfully on her head. There is something desperately earnest in her voice, but the haughty-looking girl next to her crosses her arms and says, “I’m Dani and that’s Amanita. What she means is, can you sing?”  

Riley raises her eyebrows.

“Not my thing, I’d rather DJ.”

“Oh, that’s cool!” The Amanita says, trying to hold her attention.

“And don’t mind Dani, she just really wants to beat the Danger Tones.”

“What’s this?” Kala says coming to stand next to Riley. Somehow, Amanita’s smile grows even larger.

“We are an all-female a cappella on campus and we are holding try-outs this Friday in the Maliki Auditorium,” she says holding out a flier.

Kala takes the flier with some hesitancy, but her smile is friendly all the same. Riley merely nods and slides off to a booth advertising the school broadcast station ( _The Archipelago_ , so underground it’s beyond lit).

Hours later, staring at the backside of Sun’s mattress she remembers the singing boy in the car and finds herself irrationally sad that she’ll probably never see him again.

But then she walks into The Archipelago and there he is looking even taller and broader than he had looked in the car.

“Hey, I know you!” he says, smile wide and charming as a summer day.

“No I don’t,” Riley tells him and the Archipedo’s station manager, Puck, but it sounds halfhearted even to herself. What’s-going-on-boy is undeterred.

“Yes, I do. I serenaded you in front of the International House. I totally did.”

Puck yawns, supremely unimpressed.

“You can figure it out while you stack these CDs,” he says, dumping a large carton of them on the desk with a loud thump.

“Oh, and no sex on the desk.” He winks suggestively at Riley and she feels like taking a shower. Then goes his office and locks the door behind him.

“I was gonna make a joke about us being rivals, but that’s not very fair to him,” Will says, his muscular arms crossed over his chest.

Riley tries for a smile, but it slips away.

“I wanted to play music,” Riley says quietly, taking a deep breath. Her father had been right; being busy, her classes, her roommates had helped keep the darkness of the accident manageable. But Riley had found herself in love with the idea of DJing a radio station. At least she could make a little money

“I don’t know about you, but this is exactly how I envisioned my first internship,” Will says to her. “I could have gone out for the football team and gotten a bunch of free Underarmour gear, but I just really love stacking CDs on an amazing unhygienic desk.”

“I’m just going to try and not think about it.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re gonna be best friends and or lovers.”

“You sound very confident.”

“I am.”

He smiles again, and Riley thinks she might believe him, at least a little.

.

It’s Saturday morning Riley lets the hot water stream down her back and leans her forehead against the cool tile of the shower. She normally likes to DJ till early in the morning and sleep late into the day, but oddly enough, classes have forced her to have a more regular sleeping schedule. It also doesn’t help that Sun and Kala are early risers, the former to do Thai Chi and the latter to meditate and pray. Riley is, and will always be a night owl, but there is something about the solitude and tranquility of it all that she appreciates.

Absentmindedly, she begins to sing-

_“All we ever wanted was sunlight and honesty, highlights don’t wanna repeat, lets get away from here-”_ _*_

-until the door to her stall bursts open: “I knew you could sing!”

Riley turns rapidly in surprise, crossing her hands over her chest and nearly falling onto the tile.

“Really?”

“Sorry,” Amanita says, sounding mildly repentant. “But you can sing! Come on, tryouts for the Trebles are tomorrow, we could really use your talent.”

 “Maybe, if you leave, I’ll consider it.”

“Whatever works,” she says, with that same bright smile and somehow Riley begins to feel amused.

“By the way, are you an international student?”

“Nope,” Amanita shrugs. “I just sneak in here because you guys have the best food. And the best water pressure.”

“Huh.”

.

Friday afternoon found Riley hiding out in the back of Maliki Auditorium, watching various students audition. She had even convinced Kala to audition with her after the other girl had taken her own shower. Kala had stumbled back into the dorm room looking oddly flushed and Riley had pounced, asking before Kala had a chance to overthink it. When Sun asked why she was so out of sorts, Kala mumbled something about co-ed bathrooms and privacy.  

 _“Here’s the thing, we started out friends,”_ Kala sings, and Riley gives her a thumbs up from where she sits.

Beside Riley, Sun claps politely when Kala finishes.

(“If Riley is going to make me audition, then you are too!” Kala had cried. Sun had obliged with her usual grace and a slight smirk.)

It’s a diverse mix of students who turn up: a very German looking boy who forgoes the audition song and impresses everyone with his beatboxing, a boy from Kenya with a smile more brilliant than the milky way, a Latino boy with a great voice and a flair for the dramatic, and a tall girl with a great smoky voice who Riley saw laughing with Amanita before the auditions

Then Will walks onto the stage with his easy confidence, he catches her eye and winks.

.

“Who knows,” Will says, his smile too warm and genuine to be seductive, “I may not even have time for you once I’m in the Trouble Tones.”

He finishes sorting another stack of CDs and Riley just quirks an eyebrow, trying and failing to be not too amused.

.

“Welcome to Aca- initiation!” Dani cries, standing on top of a wooden lunch table and the party commences.

Will wastes no time coming over to talk to her, maneuvering around the lunch tables the little the outdoor stadium.

“Just wait,” Will says, smile wide, “We’re gonna be Bluski before you know it. Or Wiley. Whatever you prefer.”

Even breathing the same air as Will seems to make Riley smile involuntary.

“Answer me something first.”

“Anything.”

“How- how drunk are you right now?”

“Not nearly enough. Wolfgang and Felix know how to pre-game though, let me tell you. Can I get you a drink? I think you need to get on my level right now.”

“Yes,” Riley laughs, (laughs! When was the last time happiness felt so genuine?) and watches him lumber away, wistful.     

The last time she was surrounded by this many people she was at the student activity fair. But instead of feeling adrift, she is firmly anchored to the ground. She surveys the party, a small smile playing on her lips. The German beatboxer (Wolfgang, was it?) was clearly busting out every move he knew on Kala, who, for all her apparent innocence, looked like she had no problem holding her own. Nomi and Amanita were talking intently, off in their own world and Lito was surrounded by admirers, acting out some story with exaggerated hand gestures. Meanwhile, Sun was giving an impromptu martial arts lesson to the Kenyan boy. 

“You good?” Will asks, handing her a red solo cup.

“Yes, I think so.”

She turns her head to catch his eyes. Will looks at her like he would stay here with her all night if she only had the courage to ask.

“Parties not your thing?”

“I love parties, actually. I’m trying to work on some DJing gigs actually, although it’s not easy with morning class.”

“Come on,” he says, holding out his hand, “I have an idea.”

There is a moment where Riley hesitates, but Will does not grab her hand. He merely waits, calm and unbothered and maybe that’s why she feels brave enough to let him guide her up to the front of the party where a couple guys are setting up a spin table.

“Hey, can she play?”

 The guys shrug.

“Your party man,” one man says, and Will turns to beam at her, gesturing towards the spin table. Riley can’t make herself do anything other than just look at him.

“Go do your thing Blue.”

Her chest feels very, very warm as Riley ducks her head and slides her iPod out of her jeans. When the music blares through the speakers, the party roars around her and Riley loses herself to the music. A couple of blissful hours later the party is broken up by a campus officer. After the halfhearted second warning, he finally tries to threaten them with actual police, until he sees Sun and does a double take.

“Mun, I’ll give you a rematch if you give us another half hour to clear out.”

He doesn’t even hesitate.

“Done.”

Will and Wolfgang walk them all back to the International House. Wolfgang, because he also lives there, looking intensely at Kala all the way back, and Will looks at her like it should be obvious when she asks. And maybe it is. Sun rolls her eyes, but there’s amusement their too.

“I look forward to my rematch,” Sun says, smugly while Riley is brushing her teeth.

“Why?”

“So I can win. Again.”

Riley falls asleep the moment her head hits the pillow and for the first time that week, her dreams don’t visit Iceland once.


End file.
